Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin on Monday during a telephone conversation with the Speaker of the Parliament (Majlis) of Iran Mohammad Bagher Galibaf invited him to visit Moscow later this year, and also suggested that next spring a conference of speakers of the parliaments of Afghanistan, Iran, China, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey on countering terrorism and strengthening regional cooperation be held in Sochi. This was reported by the Duma press service.
"Volodin congratulated M.B. Galibaf on his election as Chairman of the Iranian Parliament and wished him success in parliamentary activities. The parties noted the friendly nature of relations between the two countries and spoke in favor of the development of cooperation within the framework of parliamentary dimension", the report said.
Volodin also "invited the Iranian speaker to make an official visit to the Russian Federation at the end of this year with the 3rd session of the commission on cooperation between the State Duma and the Iranian Parliament".
In addition, Volodin and Galibaf discussed the possibility of continuing multilateral parliamentary formats, in which Russian and Iranian legislators participate. "In this context, the Chairman of the State Duma came forward with the initiative to hold in Russia (Sochi) next spring a regular conference of speakers of parliament on countering terrorism and strengthening regional cooperation (Afghanistan, Iran, China, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey)," the press service specified.
Increasing the level of interaction
As, in turn, the chairman of the Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky specified, the conference was proposed to be held in May 2021. "During the conversation, the Iranian side supported the proposal to increase the level of co-chairmanship in parliamentary friendship groups of the State Duma and Mejlis. It is planned that the group for interaction with the IRI Parliament will be headed by the Vice Speaker of the State Duma Alexei Gordeev," said Slutsky.
According to him, Galibaf's trip to Russia may become his first foreign visit. "If it happens, it will be a sign for the development of Russian-Iranian inter-parliamentary cooperation," the deputy said, noting that everything depends on the sanitary and epidemiological situation. "In the framework of the visit of the Speaker of the Mejlis of Iran, it was decided to schedule a high-level meeting of the Russian-Iranian inter-parliamentary commission, as well as an exhibition on trade and economic cooperation with the involvement of the chambers of commerce and industry of both countries in its organization," - summed up Slutsky.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS